Don't diminish protections of public lands

Published 5:10 pm, Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Another battle over public lands, a perennial political fight in the West, is shaping up this week as Congress debates and votes on a bill that would undermine the president's power to name national monuments. President Obama's most recent use of that power, to set aside the Point Arena-Stornetta public lands in Mendocino County as a 1,665-acre nature preserve, demonstrated a more energetic and popular conservation policy.

HR1459, authored by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, seeks to curtail such set-asides in a classic standoff between interests who seek to tap the energy, mineral, grazing, and timber uses of public lands and those who seek to set them aside from uses that would threaten their special appeal. The bill seeks to limit presidential designations to one per state per term.

This conflict first emerged in 1906, when Congress passed the Antiquities Act and President Teddy Roosevelt used it to declare a swath of northern Arizona the Grand Canyon National Monument.

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Congress still determines the funding for such monuments, and may alter the boundaries. Only 5 percent of public lands enjoy these protections.

Opinion polls show that most Americans side with Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Obama and support such efforts to balance protection and development. Monument designation typically is a gain for the local tourist economy as well as a continuation of the American legacy of conservation.

Public lands bills are largely ignored by Congress. Congress should act this time to reject attempts to weaken protections.